Vignette Vol.3 No.3
[Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]
Doneita Pringle
1924. Noxon Tittle-Tattle. Excerpt-After the Eighteenth Amendment ushered in Prohibition, Noxon had a lady beauty operator and barber for a little while. During the era of flappers, speakeasies and moonshine, young people in the Clark's Fork Valley were as susceptible as anywhere else to its changes. After finishing school at Noxon, Doneita Pringle attended the Schultz Beauty School in Spokane, Washington. Then she returned and did beauty work in her hometown. There was no such thing as a beauty shop in Noxon then. No electricity for permanents and such.
Doneita wrote Beauty Parlor Notes for The Sanders County Independent Ledger, telling readers about hair care and waves. She visited often with her parents, Mr and Mrs. Burnie Winter. Donieta had her barber chair in the barbershop in a front room of the Lena Baxter building, downtown on Main Street in Noxon. George Jamison and his kids, Laura, Loren 'Lanky', and Walter 'Tag' were among Doneita's many customers.
Lanky said, "But, Charlie's folks, Andrew and Mary Knutson, wouldn't have anything to do with Doneita. And wouldn't attend the wedding, either. Mrs. S.S. Brown's group met one afternoon. Mrs. Knutson, and Katie Engle and the whole group. They knew Mary had no use for Doneita so Grandma [Mrs. Brown] asked Mary if she'd been up to see the bride.
"Mary said, 'Why no!' "Fanny Hampton was there, and she said, 'Well shame on you.'
"Mary Knutson took her glasses off and wiped them on her apron. They wore aprons when they come to visit," Lanky said.
"After she [Donieta] and Charlie married, the barbershop was also a moonshine place. It was a short-lived marriage. Well under those circumstances, it couldn't last. Doneita left Noxon."
Sheldon S. Brown bought the barbershop building from Lena Baxter after Doneita left. George Jamison helped Don Maynard move the barber chair out, taking it to Clarks Fork [Idaho] where Maynard opened up a barbershop.
Sybyl Smith said, "Jamison [Lanky's dad], not generally a drinking man, couldn't drink much. When they brought him home he was really drunk. While moving the barber chair they'd found some moonshine."
The "tittle-tattle" that circulated constantly among townsfolk and homesteaders alike was undoubtedly overheard and absorbed by some youngsters and surely young Charles and Ruth Thomson, who lived in the Bull River Valley far from Noxon and attended Pilik School, were nevertheless attuned to some tales whether they understood the gist of them or not. Essie Thomson Mercer 1924 photograph, courtesy of her daughter Ruth Mercer McBee collection.
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[Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume III ]
Please visit often, and share with friends and acquaintances. If you find anyone with family ties, please leave a comment and contact information and share a memory to grow your family tree!
[Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]
Doneita Pringle
1924. Noxon Tittle-Tattle. Excerpt-After the Eighteenth Amendment ushered in Prohibition, Noxon had a lady beauty operator and barber for a little while. During the era of flappers, speakeasies and moonshine, young people in the Clark's Fork Valley were as susceptible as anywhere else to its changes. After finishing school at Noxon, Doneita Pringle attended the Schultz Beauty School in Spokane, Washington. Then she returned and did beauty work in her hometown. There was no such thing as a beauty shop in Noxon then. No electricity for permanents and such.
Doneita wrote Beauty Parlor Notes for The Sanders County Independent Ledger, telling readers about hair care and waves. She visited often with her parents, Mr and Mrs. Burnie Winter. Donieta had her barber chair in the barbershop in a front room of the Lena Baxter building, downtown on Main Street in Noxon. George Jamison and his kids, Laura, Loren 'Lanky', and Walter 'Tag' were among Doneita's many customers.
Charlie Knutson fell in love with Doneita, and built a snug little house on the hill between the schoolhouse and the businesses 'downtown.'24 Shortly thereafter, the sweethearts married.
Lanky said, "But, Charlie's folks, Andrew and Mary Knutson, wouldn't have anything to do with Doneita. And wouldn't attend the wedding, either. Mrs. S.S. Brown's group met one afternoon. Mrs. Knutson, and Katie Engle and the whole group. They knew Mary had no use for Doneita so Grandma [Mrs. Brown] asked Mary if she'd been up to see the bride.
"Mary said, 'Why no!' "Fanny Hampton was there, and she said, 'Well shame on you.'
"Mary Knutson took her glasses off and wiped them on her apron. They wore aprons when they come to visit," Lanky said.
"After she [Donieta] and Charlie married, the barbershop was also a moonshine place. It was a short-lived marriage. Well under those circumstances, it couldn't last. Doneita left Noxon."
Sheldon S. Brown bought the barbershop building from Lena Baxter after Doneita left. George Jamison helped Don Maynard move the barber chair out, taking it to Clarks Fork [Idaho] where Maynard opened up a barbershop.
Sybyl Smith said, "Jamison [Lanky's dad], not generally a drinking man, couldn't drink much. When they brought him home he was really drunk. While moving the barber chair they'd found some moonshine."
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Laurence "Larry" Cox, dressed up here in his Sunday best and possibly on his way to church or a Sunday school class, wasn't immune from rumors and truths because his mother was active in community betterment organizations where news circulated most unrestrainedly, June 1924 photograph, courtesy Laurence "Larry" Cox collection.
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Because Julia and Arthur LeGault's children, Blossom, Leonard and Bernice, were related to the Saints and Fulks families, lived in Noxon and attended school there most assuredly they heard all manner of "tittle tattle", ca. 1925-26, courtesy Ben F. Saint collection.
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[Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume III ]
PDF copies of Behind These Mountains, Vols. I, II & III are available on a DVD - $50 S&H included, plus author's permission to print or have printed buyers personal copy of each of the approximately 1200 page books which contain about 1,000 photographs from homesteaders personal albums.
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